Lazio swoop for Sampdoria's Stankevičius
Monday, July 11, 2011
Article summary
Marius Stankevičius has become S.S. Lazio's fifth signing of the summer after agreeing to join Edoardo Reja's UEFA Europa League hopefuls from relegated UC Sampdoria.
Article top media content
Article body
S.S. Lazio have signed Lithuanian international Marius Stankevičius from UC Sampdoria for an undisclosed fee.
The Rome-based club, who qualified for the UEFA Europa League after finishing fifth in Serie A last term, confirmed the arrival of the defender after the 29-year-old agreed to become their fifth signing of the summer.
Former FK Ekranas right-back Stankevičius first arrived in Italy in 2002 and, after spells with Brescia Calcio and Cosenza Calcio, joined Sampdoria in 2008, for whom he made 44 league appearances. Last August he returned from a six-month loan spell at Sevilla FC to appear in the UEFA Champions League play-offs, but after the Blucerchiati narrowly lost out to SV Werder Bremen, he returned to Spain, where he spent a season on loan with Valencia CF. In the meantime Sampdoria endured a difficult league campaign which resulted in their relegation from Serie A.
Stankevičius – who turns 30 on 15 July – is Lazio's latest addition of the summer following the arrivals of Miroslav Klose, Federico Marchetti, Abdoulay Konko and Senad Lulić.
